Consumption of the lungs is not generally recognised as a frequent disease in dogs. There can be no doubt, however, of its being a frequent and fatal complaint. In many cases of what appears to be simply disordered respiration, etc., a postmortem examination would disclose a tubercular condition of the lungs.

Symptoms

The symptoms are at first obscure. The dog is troubled with an occasional cough, which the owner ascribes to a temporary cold. After a time the appetite falls off, and the flesh too, so that the animal becomes thin and weak, and the expectoration, at first scanty, becomes profuse and purulent, or bloody. In this stage the experienced practitioner can detect unmistakable evidence of hectic fever. An obstinate diarrhoea supervenes and resists all treatment, and at length the dog dies from exhaustion.

This disease is, of course, incurable.